


We Called Her Kaylee

by Tkeyla



Series: My 52 Week Challenge [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-04 16:51:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3074708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tkeyla/pseuds/Tkeyla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Command Crew celebrates the two year anniversary of Jim getting the captaincy. They chat and reminisce.</p>
<p>The first random prompt is <i>We called her Kaylee, but we didn't know why.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to challenge myself to write a new fic(let) every week. In order to keep it interesting and to amuse myself, I went on line and found random prompts. 
> 
> This 52 week challenge will be in addition other writing I'd do anyway - especially fanfiction-wise. My plan is that the new writing week will start on Sunday so I will have until Saturday to post the story. 
> 
> The prompts will be used for all the fandoms in which I am currently involved: _Star Trek, Hawaii Five-0, and Castle_. I'm thinking of dipping my toe in _BBC Sherlock and Guardians of the Galaxy_ but these are a maybe.
> 
> Happy New Year!

“We called her Kaylee, but we didn't know why,” Bones said, laughing with Jim at the memory.  
  
The command crew was in Jim’s quarters, celebrating the second anniversary of his official captaincy. Jim was on the loveseat with Bones, leaning heavily into his best friend. Although Jim had barely had anything to drink, his happiness was unbridled. It came not from alcohol but from the company and the love they so freely provided.  
  
Except Spock. He didn’t appear to openly disapprove of the celebration but neither was he unbending enough to be a part of it.  
  
“Well,” Bones had said a few minutes earlier. “Don’t let his Vulcan stoicism rain on your parade.”  
  
“Yeah,” Jim agreed, helping Bones bring the drinks out from Jim’s tiny kitchen.  
  
“What was her real name?” Pavel asked. He was sitting on the floor in front of Hiraku’s chair, leaning back on his shins. They looked cozy and comfortable in their own company and that of the rest of the command crew.  
  
“Mehetabell,” Jim said with a laugh.  
  
“No wonder she went by Kaylee,” Nyota agreed with a smile as she elegantly sipped her hot chocolate. But then no one had ever seen her do anything that wasn’t elegant.  
  
“But where did _Kaylee_ come from?” Scotty asked. “That makes no sense.”  
  
“Who knows?” Bones said.  
  
“Jim, didn’t you sleep with her?” Hikaru asked with an inappropriate wink that no one minded.  
  
Jim shrugged, returning Sulu’s wink.  
  
“There can be no doubt that he made inappropriate advances toward her,” Spock said, finally breaking his silence. No one was certain if he was kidding in his own way or if he was really reprimanding Jim for something he may have done before Spock knew him.  
  
“Advances aren’t inappropriate when they are reciprocated,” Nyota responded with a surprising amount of sass.  
  
Jim shrugged that off, taking Bones’ hot chocolate to sip from it.  
  
“Where is she now?” Pavel asked.  
  
“Gaila said she’s on one of the deep space stations,” Uhura said, not certain about the accuracy of the information. But she knew it didn’t really matter to anyone there.  
  
“She was a botanist, wasn’t she?” Jim asked Hikaru with much implied.  
  
“I have no idea,” Hikaru said. “I never met her.”  
  
“Yes you did,” Bones corrected. “When you broke your arm skiing, she was interning in sick bay. You told me she was really cute and asked for her comm code.”  
  
“Hey,” Hikaru protested. “I was high on painkillers.”  
  
“Then you had taken them without authorization,” Bones laughed. “I didn’t give you any.”  
  
“Is that why you broke your arm, Karu? Because you were high,” Pavel asked, looking up at his boyfriend with an expression that said it made no difference. Pavel would love him no matter what.  
  
“No,” Sulu protested. “You gave them to me.”  
  
“Not me,” Bones said, holding up one hand.  
  
“You cannot possibly remember all medical procedures you performed during your time at the Academy,” Spock observed.  
  
“Not all of them. But he broke his arm after Narada,” Bones said.  
  
Spock nodded at that, not needing any reminders as how those months were forever etched in their collective memories. “Indeed.”  
  
“I didn’t know she worked in the sick bay,” Nyota said.  
  
“She seemed a natural but she said her heart was in botany,” Bones said.  
  
“How do you know her real name?” Nyota asked Jim, eyeing him in suspicion now that she’d thought about it.  
  
“She applied for a position on the Enterprise,” he said, seeing the skepticism in the faces of his friends. “Really. Didn’t she, Spock?”  
  
“I do not recall,” Spock claimed, a bare hint of humor in his eyes.  
  
“How many Mehetabells can there possibly be?” Scotty said, peering into his cup.  
  
“Indeed,” Spock said, making the others laugh at them.  
  
“My cup is empty,” Scotty said sadly. “I think that’s a signal for me to be getting on to bed.”  
  
“Yeah,” Pavel said, standing and reaching out a hand for Hikaru. “Thank you for the partying.”  
  
“You’re welcome,” Jim said, speaking with each of them as they left. “Spock still hates me. After all this time,” he complained to Bones when he alone remained.  
  
“No he doesn’t, kid. I’m telling you, what he feels for you ain’t hate,” McCoy said as he often did.  
  
Jim shrugged, tidying up his quarters with his friend’s help before wishing him a good night and seeing him out. He wanted to believe what Bones said but the words did not match with Jim’s experience. With a sigh, he let go of the frustration and allowed sleep to overtake him.  



	2. A Secret Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Week 4 of my 52 week challenge. This week's prompt is _There was a secret meeting tonight and I had to be there._
> 
> Jim tells Spock about this secret meeting to yank his chain. There was no meeting, secret or otherwise.

“Captain,” Spock said as Kirk approached the door to his cabin.  
  
“Spock,” Kirk replied, studying his first officer as Spock did the same. “Was there something you needed?” Why else would Spock be waiting in the corridor? Jim could tell that if he were fully human, he’d be pacing. Even his vaunted Vulcan reserve couldn’t disguise all of the nervousness he was feeling. What was this all about?”  
  
“I wish to speak with you,” Spock said, his voice showing the smallest amount of impatience.  
  
“I guessed that,” Jim replied. “About what?”  
  
“Might we continue this conversation in your cabin?” Spock requested, glancing at the door that remained stubbornly closed.  
  
“We aren’t having a conversation. You are stalking me and refusing to tell me why.”  
  
“You cannot consider my presence in the corridor as _stalking_ you, Captain. You have been avoiding me. My being here is so that you can no longer ignore my requests for communication.”  
  
“I’m not avoiding you, Spock. We’re on a spaceship. That would make it impossible even if I wanted to,” Kirk pointed out. “Besides….” He stopped at the approach of two ensigns who had been talking to each other but grew silent when they realized who else was in the corridor.  
  
“Captain, Commander,” the one Kirk thought was named Smyth said.  
  
“Ensigns,” the Captain said with an authoritative nod. “Carry on.”  
  
Duly dismissed, the ensigns sped up, wasting no time in escaping the uncomfortable atmosphere created by their two superior officers.  
  
Kirk sighed quietly and opened the door to his cabin, knowing Spock would follow as he entered. He went directly to this tiny kitchen, requesting a cup of coffee from his replicator.  
  
“Is it not too late for a drink laden with the amount of caffeine present in coffee?” Spock asked as Kirk returned to the office portion of his quarters.  
  
“What do you want, Spock?” Kirk asked. What did it matter to Spock if he was drinking coffee? He’d be up for several more hours in a vain attempt to complete at least some of the never-ending paperwork before he could even think of going to bed.  
  
“I came by earlier to speak with you. You were not here,” Spock said.   
  
“No I wasn’t,” Kirk agreed, sitting at his desk and looking up at Spock.  
  
“Where were you?”  
  
“Why?” Kirk asked in response.  
  
“I requested your location from the computer. It had no information to provide,” Spock said. The faint air of disapproval Kirk had detected earlier was now not so disguised. In fact, Jim would go so far as to say Spock was pissed. Well, he wasn’t the only one.  
  
“I instructed the computer not to track my whereabouts,” Kirk informed him. He hoped his tone of voice was enough to prevent Spock from asking why he’d issued that particular directive.  
  
“That is not within standard Starfleet protocol,” Spock said, disapproval in his voice and his posture.  
  
“Okay,” Jim said. “Why are you here?”  
  
“Why are you being evasive?”  
  
“Why are you being so nosy? I’m here now. I have a right to _some_ privacy, for God’s sake. You don’t need to know where I am every second of every ship’s day.”  
  
“If the Enterprise had come under attack…” Spock tried.  
  
“I would have been informed. What. Do. You. Want?”  
  
“As second in command, it is my responsibility…”  
  
“Please stop quoting regulations to me,” Kirk said, weary beyond words. He didn’t need any more lectures about his shortcomings and his lack of discipline. At least not right now.  
  
“Where were you?” Spock asked in a tone which Kirk supposed was intended to be conciliatory.  
  
Jim sighed, taking a sip of coffee as he considered the question. “There was a secret meeting tonight and I had to be there.” He could see the confusion his reply created and silently thanked Bones for giving him the idea.  
  
“What secret meeting? Secret from whom?”  
  
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret any longer,” Kirk pointed out.   
  
“What sort of meeting is held without my knowledge?” Spock asked.   
  
The idea of this supposed secret meeting was annoying Spock even more than McCoy had predicted. Kirk almost felt sorry enough for him to admit he was yanking his chain but he was too tired and too fed up with Spock’s continued superior attitude.  
  
“A secret meeting,” Kirk responded with a shrug. “Unless there is urgent ship’s business you need to discuss with me, I have a shit-ton of paperwork to get to.”  
  
Spock gave a curt nod, one Kirk was afraid might snap his neck like a dried twig. Without another word, Spock turned on his heel and left.  
  
“It worked,” Jim called Bones to tell him once the doors were closed.  
  
“I told you it would,” Bones responded in a tone of pure gloating.  
  
“I feel a little guilty,” Jim admitted. “I think he really was worried when he couldn’t find me.”  
  
“No he wasn’t. He didn’t ask me where you were,” Bones pointed out.  
  
“There is that. He’s probably on his way there now to interrogate you about this secret meeting I attended.”  
  
“He’s welcome to try,” Bones said. “Pour the rest of that coffee down the drain and go to bed.”  
  
“I have….”  
  
“That was not a request. It was an order,” Bones informed him. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to tell Spock you lied to him. And I don’t think you want that.”  
  
Jim sighed, knowing defeat when it came in the form of his best friend. “All right. But you’re going to be sorry when Starfleet recalls me because I didn’t do their damnable paperwork.”  
  
“Nah,” Bones said. “I’ll quit too. Then Spock will end up resigning and following you to wherever you end up.”  
  
“His supposed infatuation with me is all in your head. You know that, don’t you?”  
  
“Don’t lie to yourself, kid. It’s not a good look.”  
  
“Say goodnight Bones,” Jim said with a laugh.  
  
“Goodnight kid.”  



End file.
